The present invention relates to improved systems for the illumination, viewing and imaging of objects and of remote cavities or spaces. More particularly, the invention is directed to an illuminating system utilizing, in combination, a laser beam as a light source and an optical fiber as a light carrier or transmitter. In preferred embodiments, the invention finds utility in fiberscopes such as medical endoscopes used to view relatively inaccessible spaces or body cavities. Such instruments oridinarily include means for illumination and for imaging, relying upon the properties of optical fibers and one or more ancillary channels. In medical endoscopy the need for small size instruments is obvious.
Miniaturized fiberscopes require that the transmission of light be through a limited number of optical fibers and yet provide illumination adequate for viewing and for photography. In current hypodermic fiberscopes for medical applications, the light transmitting optical fibers occupy nearly one-half of the total cross sectional area of the instrument. Further reduction of the cross section of the illuminating structure is limited by the imaging of a conventional incoherent light source on the optical fibers. Physical demands inherent in providing adequate illumination at a remote location, and utilizing fiber optics, pose special problems in medical instruments where the cross sectional area allocated to the light carrying elements must necessarily be limited. Several approaches to the solution of the problem have been investigated by prior researchers but no completely satisfactory solution has been offered. It is, accordingly, the aim of the present invention to obviate many of the shortcomings of prior art fiberscopic illuminating systems and to provide an improved optical illuminating viewing, and imaging system which is uniquely adapted for incorporation in endoscopes and similar devices.